MARIETTA, Ga., Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- MiMedx Group, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: MDXG), an integrated developer, manufacturer and marketer of patent protected biomaterial-based products, announced today that it has been awarded a Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project grant (QTDP) from the U.S. Government. The grant, in the amount of $244,479, has been made to defer some of the Company's research expenditures related to the development of its novel and patented technology, CollaFix, as a drug delivery device.

The CollaFix collagen fiber technology was designed by MiMedx to mimic the natural composition, structure and mechanical properties of musculoskeletal tissues in order to augment their repair. CollaFix is the only biological, biodegradable, biomimetic technology that matches human tendon in strength and stiffness. CollaFix also has unique characteristics as a potential drug delivery device which may enable it to deliver therapeutics while facilitating soft tissue repair.

Parker H. "Pete" Petit, MiMedx Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "CollaFix was developed with our patented cross-linking polymers and is designed to mimic native tissue biomechanics. We believe CollaFix has an array of potential applications for use. As a drug delivery device, CollaFix has the potential to be far superior to conventional drug delivery devices. We anticipate CollaFix may have greater stability in vivo and its unique characteristics may permit it to deliver drugs and other therapeutics to a very precise site over an extended time. This potentially could minimize tissue damage."

"One of the remarkable qualities of CollaFix is its potential to absorb and deliver antibiotics and other therapeutics," said Bill Taylor, President and Chief Operating Officer of MiMedx. "CollaFix as a drug delivery device potentially could treat both acute and chronic diseases. Some of its possible applications include the administration of anti-inflammatory drugs during ligament and tendon surgery, administration of antibiotics to prevent infections associated with implantable medical devices such as pacemakers and glucose monitors, and antibiotics administration for the treatment of chronic diabetic ulcers."

About the Company

MiMedx Group, Inc. ("MiMedx Group") is an integrated developer, manufacturer and marketer of patent protected biomaterial-based products. The Company is successfully emerging from a development-focused start-up into a fully integrated operating company with an experienced team poised to capitalize on its science and technology to generate rapid sales growth and profitability. Our mantra is "Repair, don't replace" because our biochemists, engineers, designers and physicians believe it is better to augment repair when possible rather than replace traumatized, but otherwise healthy tissues and structures. Our platform technologies, HydroFix and CollaFix, have a vast number of potential applications in treating traumatized tissue and structures and we are focused on commercializing multiple applications of both technologies. In parallel, we are seeking strategic relationships, in selective categories, to more rapidly commercialize our technologies. HydroFix and CollaFix are trademarks of MiMedx Group, Inc.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release includes statements that look forward in time or that express management's beliefs, expectations or hopes. Such statements are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, the potential benefits of CollaFix as a drug delivery device. These statements are based on current information and belief, and are not guarantees of future performance. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include that the anticipated therapeutic benefits may not be achieved, that physician utilization of a CollaFix drug delivery device does not meet expectations, that the Company may not receive requisite regulatory clearances and/or approvals to be able to market its full range of CollaFix products, including its drug delivery device, or that such clearances or approvals may be delayed, that the Company requires significant additional capital to survive and achieve its goals, which may be difficult or impossible to obtain; that cost reductions may not be sustained or be sufficient to enable the Company to achieve profitability, that the Company may not be able to establish an effective distribution system for its products in the U.S. or abroad, that the Company's products may not gain the anticipated acceptance in the marketplace or that acceptance may be delayed, and the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, without limitation, its 10-K filing for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009. By making these forward-looking statements, MiMedx Group does not undertake to update them in any manner except as may be required by the Company's disclosure obligations in filings it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the federal securities laws.